CTV Reports Vancouver Video Game Industry is in Danger

CTV recently posted a report which paints a bleak picture of the future of Vancouver, British Columbia’s place in the video game industry. “We feel that the B.C. video game industry has come under threat recently, and it is in a bit of peril,” said the Chief Financial Officer for Slant Six Games, Lance Davis.

While nothing was said of Slant Six’s own 70-person operation, the report notes that Microsoft Studios and Radical Entertainment laid off a combined 124 employees. Meanwhile, Rockstar Games instead opted to relocate its own 35-person operation to Toronto. Davis says that since 2008, a decrease in investment has led to approximately 1,400 jobs being lost.

This has led those in the industry to blame the B.C. government, noting that those in Ontario and Quebec are offering more appealing tax breaks to companies. With larger companies leaving the picture, job pickings are slim. B.C.’s minister of community, sport, and cultural development, Bill Bennett, says he understands their struggle, but that their hands are tied when it comes to providing the same sort of tax breaks as other provinces.

“I’m not saying that we won’t level the playing field. It’s not an easy decision at a time when the province is trying to balance its budget,” he says, noting that the other provinces “apparently don’t worry as much about that.”